I love going for walks, whether it's the city streets of New York or on the country roads of the Catskills. It gives me time to be alone with my thoughts and to simply observe. So when pain in my foot made those walks difficult, I knew I had to do something.

In October 2012, I decided to have surgery to fix the cause of my chronic foot pain. I wasn't concerned that the surgery would be successful; I had complete trust in my doctor. My biggest concern is that while I was recuperating, four months in which my most strenuous activity would be crutching my way to and from the subway station, I would gain weight. A lot of weight.

A perfect time, I decided, to detox. What else was I going to do, especially in the two weeks following the procedure ? On the morning of October 18, one day after surgery and before the nerve block the doctor gave me to numb the pain in my foot wore off, I popped the first Clearing and Support Pack pills. My detox had begun.

Past Experiences & Future Expectations

I'd done the Burn & Build Body 14-Day Detox before, and the results astounded me. With a clean body and reset mind, I lost 43 pounds in four months. But more importantly than that, my confidence grew, and my willpower got a detoxification of its own. Gone were the myriad excuses I usually come up with to have that extra helping, that tempting cookie, a second or third cup of coffee. And I found that going to the gym also had new meaning. It coupled perfectly with the detox. My life became focused on doing simple things around diet and exercise that were paying off handsomely.

But after surgery and without exercise, could I get similar results?

Weight Lost & Knowledge Gained

Recuperation went fine, even though my schedule was thrown off a week by the shutdown of my hospital due to Hurricane Sandy. In early November, I graduated to an air cast—a ski boot-like contraption, which covered my leg from kneecap to big toe— and went back to work (that's where the crutching to the subway came in). Four weeks later, I tossed aside the crutches and was finally able to put weight on my foot.

The first thing I did was jump on the scale—gingerly of course. In those 42 days, I lost 14 pounds. Some of that was muscle weight; my left thigh was atrophied to half of its former self. But I didn't really need the scale to tell me things had changed. My clothes fit me better, including pants one inch smaller than the pants I wore before the surgery. I was alert and energized without the crutch of caffeine.

Now, 75 days after surgery, I can walk around my home without the boot. Every day my foot feels better and my legs feel stronger. It's only a matter of time before I'm able to don sneakers again, get back to the gym, and get out and enjoy my walks. Pain free and energized.

I'm grateful I was able to turn my recuperation into two positives: a repaired foot and clean metabolic system. But more importantly through my detox experience I've gained a better appreciation for how my body works and how a food-based detox program can lead to beneficial results, weight loss included, even when my ability to exercise was severely curtailed.

– Stephen D'Agostino

Stephen D'Agostino is a writer living in Vermont. He is currently hard at work on two novels and at Grosbeak Gardens – Creating natural handcrafted soaps and candles. You can read more about his pursuits at stephendagostino.com and grosbeakgardens.com